Back to the Good Old Days of Childhood
by sassyfras
Summary: I've decide to add. The other chaps will be back after some editing. Miguel is new at the orphanage and Tulio decides to show him around. Later in the story, the two will be 10 years old. Right now, the two are both 5. I am not saying this is how they met.Just an idea. This is like a what if kind of thing.If you have other ideas about how they met please stick with that if you wish
1. Chapter 1

"No! You can't take me away! I won't let you!" a young blond shouted as he struggled to free himself from the grasp of a man. He clutched onto the railing of the porch steps of his house, refusing to let go.

It was on this cloudy yet warm day outside of a house at the corner of a street in Spain that a young child was on the verge of tears as a rather irritated looking man tried to rip him away from the house he knew and loved. His mother and father had died when the boy was only two years of age and he had been living in his old house all by his lonesome ever since.

In hiding and with no pesetas, he lived off of mere scraps, forced to scavenge and steal what he could for his own survival. Many sleepless nights he'd cuddle in the sheets of his parents old bed, trying to find comfort of some sort. Sometimes he'd find sleep but not always. The man had a hold on the boys right arm and was pulling.

"Let go! This is for your own good!" the man insisted, trying not to injure the small child who didn't want to leave his home.

"Please... Just let me stay..." the boy begged, still holding on. After much tugging, the boy lost his grip and let go by an accident.

"No!" he called out as the man managed to get a better grip on the young blonde, wrapping both arms around the child's stomach area. The man turned around, the child still in hand, and proceeded to push the child away who was now in tears. The young blonde could no longer see his house since he was now facing the opposite direction. He wanted to go home. The child wanted to snuggle in the sheets of his parents bed and somehow find sleep but alas, he could never go back. Tears streamed down the child's face.

"Please... I just want to go home..." the five year old begged.

"Well, your getting a new home now. It isn't safe or healthy for a child like yourself to be living all alone. Don't worry. You'll make new friends at the orphanage." The man explained.

"But... I don't want to go..." the young blonde protested. "It's not a choice you can make." the man replied. The blonde child sniffled, longing for his home.

After awhile of walking, the orphanage came into view. As they came closer, the young blonde felt nervous and sad. Once they walked inside, other children could be seen. The man closed the door with a loud thud, causing the young boy to jump. Kids of various ages sat and stood around, some clutching or holding precious toys, teddy bears, stuffed animals, or blankets, others sitting or standing around looking sad or nervous, perhaps even happy in some cases.

"Well, my work here is done." the man said and with that, he left the building, closing the door with another loud thud, causing the young blonde to jump again. He looked around, unfamiliar with the place. Not sure where to go or what to do, he walked forward, looking at the children who he could see. They gave him confused looks, curious looks, odd looks, sad looks, mocking looks, happy looks, and other various looks. His eyes began to fill with tears and he began to cry again.

Just then one of the kids walked over, feeling sorry for him. The child had dark, black hair and blue eyes. He seemed to be about his age. Approaching carefully, he walked and stopped across from the blonde boy and put a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"Hey. Don't cry, kid. It'll be ok." he assured, trying to comfort the weeping blonde. The young blonde cast his green eyes upon the other child, looking into his eyes. He sniffled, wiping the tears away with the back of his right hand before wiping his hand on his pants.

"How do you know?" he questioned.

"Well, believe it or not, I know what your going through." the dark-haired kid explained. The green-eyed blonde sniffled once more.

"You do?" he questioned curiously. The blue-eyed boy nodded.

"Mmhmm. It's scary being here for the first time. But trust me. It gets better." he explained. The blonde wasn't quiet convinced but decided to take his word for it.

"My name is Miguel. Who are you?" he questioned, wondering who this friendly stranger even was.

"Tulio. I'm Tulio." the dark-haired kid replied. Miguel gave a light smile.

"Nice to meet you." he replied.

"Same to you." Tulio replied.

"Hey. Why don't I show you around the place?" Tulio offered, wrapping an arm around the young blonde's neck gently. Miguel nodded.

"Sure. I'd like that." he replied. Tulio nodded back before leading Miguel towards a staircase. Miguel followed Tulio's lead. Up the stairs the boys went. Once they were at the top of the stairs, the two boys made there way down the dark hallway.

"There are many bedrooms up here since there are a lot of orphans here. They either don't have parents or their parents gave them up or they couldn't take care of them. Some of the children here had parents who treated them terribly or weren't taking care of them right and things like that so they were taken away." Tulio explained. Miguel stopped, looking down at the floor sadly.

"My parents died when I was only two. I didn't know how to react. One day I walked into the kitchen and my mom was face-down on the floor. I thought she was asleep so I tried shaking her awake. When she didn't move, I got scared and went to see where my dad was. I found him dead on the couch face up. I thought he was asleep too and climbed up onto his chest. I didn't feel the familiar thump of his heart beat and realized something was wrong. Before long, I realized he was dead too." the young blonde concluded, trying not to cry again. Tulio had stopped and was listening to Miguel carefully. He frowned, feeling sad for the boy.

"That's terrible. My story is a bit different than yours. My mother abandoned me when I was only two years old and left me at this orphanage. I never knew my father though. For all I know he could be dead or lost." Tulio explained, feeling sad. Miguel walked until he was next to Tulio.

"Maybe he's alive." the young blonde said, trying to think positive. Tulio gave a sad sounding sigh.

"Maybe. Odds are I'll never see him again though." Tulio said, looking down at the ground. Miguel frowned, starting to feel sad again.

"Hey! Why don't we continue the tour." he said, changing the subject. He didn't want to cry anymore and he assumed Tulio didn't want to cry either. Tulio shook his head around, trying to clear his mind. He then gave a nod.

"Ok." he replied before the tour continued with Tulio leading the way once again. After awhile, the tour was complete and the two toured the downstairs area next. Afterwards, Tulio sighed and put his hands on his hips.

"Well, that's pretty much it for the tour." he concluded before looking back at Miguel. The young blonde nodded.

"That's great." he responded, looking around a bit.

"Hey. Why don't I introduce you to some of the other kids? Maybe you'll make some new friends." Tulio suggested, still looking at Miguel. Miguel nodded once more.

"That would be great." he replied and with that, the two went off to do just that.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Miguel opened his eyes, the morning sun streaming through the open shade which the two hadn't bothered to close the night before. He sat up in his bed before pulling up his shirt a bit to check on his stomach. The young boy poked at it, seeing that it hadn't change much since the night before. He looked over to the bed next to his to see Tulio still fast asleep.

"Tulio! Tulio, wake up!" Miguel called, ready to get up for the day. Tulio didn't move and only kept on sleeping. The young blonde slipped out of his bed and walked over to his friends bed.

"Tulio! Come on, wake up already!" Miguel said, shaking his friend awake. Tulio groaned.

"Ugh. Five more minuets..." he replied groggily, hiding his head underneath his pillow. Miguel yanked the pillow away and smacked him with it.

"No. Now! We have to get up now!" he urged.

"Urrg, fine, fine, I'm awake alright?" Tulio grumbled, sitting up in bed and rubbing his sleepy eyes.

"Bet I'll beat you out of the room." Miguel challenged, taking off running without waiting for a response. Tulio only yawned and stretched out his arms, giving his back a scratch with his right hand as he slipped out of bed and followed his energetic friend.

_"Would it kill him to sleep in late for once?" _Tulio thought to himself as he followed Miguel. Once the two were back at the table they had sat at the night before, Calisto and Rayna were waiting there for them.

"Good morning! How'd you guys sleep?" Calisto asked.

"I slept like a rock!" Miguel replied.

"Same here." Tulio agreed.

"And I slept like a baby." Rayna, who was only four years of age, added.

"So… what do you guys want to do now?" Miguel asked curiously.

"Well..." Tulio began before Calisto interjected.

"Ooo! Ooo! I know! Let's go outside and play!" he suggested eagerly.

"Yeah! We should totally do that!" Rayna agreed, clapping her hands together excitedly.

"Um, guys? Arn't you forgetting one important detail? The adults aren't up yet. We're not supposed to go outside without their permission, remember?" he reminded the others.

"Oh yeah..." Rayna said, slumping her shoulders a bit in disappointment.

"Psssh! So what? We'll be back inside before anyone even realizes we're gone." Miguel assured.

"I don't know guys. I mean, we could get in trouble." Tulio said, still concerned.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm with Miguel on this one." Calisto said, walking to the blonde boy's side and wrapping an arm around him.

"Me too!" Rayna agreed, walking over to Calisto and grabbing onto his other hand. Tulio sighed.

"Alright. Alright. You guys win. Let's go." he said, seeing that there was no arguing them out of it. Besides, he wanted to go outside and play too.

"Woohoo! Race ya there!" Miguel challenged, taking off running. Calisto and Rayna went running after him, Tulio following close behind. Once outdoors, the children engaged in a game of tag, Miguel being the tagger.

"I'm gonna get you!" he insisted, going after Rayna.

"Haha! Not if you can't catch me!" the young girl taunted in response. It was then that she tripped over a tree root and feel down hard.

"Ow!" she yelped in pain. She sniffled a bit and her eyes began to fill with tears.

"Calisto! Help me!" she called out, crying for help. Calisto emerged from the bush he was hiding behind and went to tend to his little sister.

"Uh oh! Did you fall down?" he asked, concerned.

"Mmhmm." Rayna nodded, wiping the tears away. Miguel offered his hand.

"Here. Let me..." he started speaking but didn't get to finish as he was interrupted by a couple of gasps coming from none other than Calisto and Rayna. Miguel turned around and standing there was a very unhappy looking adult guardian. That is if this particular one could even be _called_ a guardian. This one was Mrs. Wistler who was notorious around the place for being strict and quiet often not very nice to say the least. Miguel gave a nervous laugh and smile, trying his best to look as innocent as possible.

"Oh. Good morning, Mrs. Wistler. Aren't you looking just lovely this morning as always. Heh heh." he said as Calisto helped his little sister up off the ground. At this point Tulio had wandered back over to the group and when he saw Mrs. Wistler's scowl and crossed arms, he let out a groan.

"That's right. Busted! And don't you go thinking that that sweet, innocent, act is gonna work on me, mister!" she scolded, wagging her finger at Miguel.

"Look. Mrs. Wistler. We can explain. We were just..." Calisto began before he was cut off.

"Silence! I don't care what you were doing! You brats know good and well that your not to go outside without an adult and this is exactly why!" she scolded, gesturing towards Rayna who's right knee had started to bleed some.

"Um, Mrs. Wistler I'm..." she started to protest but Mrs. Wistler wouldn't hear of it.

"Shhhh! Hush, darling. Everything will be just fine." she coaxed. "As for the rest of you, however..." she trailed off, glaring daggers at Miguel.

"Look. Mrs. Wistler. This was all my idea, alright?" the young blonde admitted, ready to take the blame.

"Well, no duh! Whenever there's trouble around here your usually the one behind it!" she scolded, putting her hands on her hips unhappily. Miguel hung his head while the others tried to shrink into the background.

"And don't you go thinking this won't go unpunished. As of right now, you don't get any breakfast this morning, ya hear?" Mrs. Wistler scolded. There was a horrified gasp from the other three children and Miguel began a protest of his own.

"What?! Bu-but breakfast is the most important meal of the day!" he stuttered in shock.

"Well, maybe _someone_ should have thought about that before they decided to break the rules." Mrs. Wistler shot back, crossing her arms around her chest crossly. Tulio was the first to step forward, ready to stand up for his friend.

"Mrs. Wistler. Let me just be the first to say that if Miguel can't eat breakfast, than I'm not eating either!" he insisted, crossing his arms across his chest as he stood at his friends right side.

"Tulio. It's ok. You don't have to..." Miguel began before Calisto and Rayna step forward.

"And that goes double for me!" Calisto insisted, stepping up to Miguel's left side.

"And that goes quadruple for me!" Rayna added, grabbing onto Calisto's hand on his other side.

"Well! Fine then! I guess that means none of you brats will be eating breakfast this morning! And I'll be sure off that." Mrs. Wistler huffed crossly.

"Now march back inside this instant before a drag each of you in by your ears." she added, pointing towards the inside area.

"Yes. Mrs. Wistler." Tulio grumbled.

"Yeah. Whatever you command, Mrs. Wistler." Miguel said, a scowl now on his face.

With that, the children were herded back indoors.


End file.
